Monaco back in the day

It's a rest day at Monaco today. No F1 on track.

This was sent to me on twitter by a reader and I loved it so thought I'd share. It's the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix video, with some great lines of commentary, like the one about the race featuring lots of 'accidents and burning cars'.

It's amazing to think how differently they considered danger back then. When the cars come down by the water side there are no barriers to stop them falling into the harbour!

The race was won by local driver Louis Chiron, after whom the swimming pool corner, my favourite corner on this track to stand and watch at, has been renamed,

He was racing against Achille Varzi in the Bugatti. I'm fascinated by Varzi; he had an affair with a rival driver's wife and was addicted to morphine. These days he'd probably take out a super injunction, but back in the 1930s he was just scandalous. He had an amazing look in his eyes, very intense and quite dangerous.

He raced at the time of some very talented drivers like Rosemeyer, Caracciola and Nuvolari and held his own until his personal problems got the better of him. After the war, he made a comeback in his 40s and was killed at a Grand Prix in 1948. I always thought he'd make a great subject for a movie.